His academic curriculum vitae does not mention it, but the season that brought him to the attention of the world, in spite of the extreme discretion surrounding the issue, was when he was at the side of Pope John Paul II as the organizer and director of philosophy seminars at Castelgandolfo. The pope insisted that these seminars be held for a number of years, and they were marked by great pluralistic openness towards unfettered philosophical research and attended by non-believers like Leszek Kolakowski. The fundamental issues addressed at these meetings included the culture of freedom, a critical analysis of Marxism, Gadameran hermeneutics (Gadamer took part in the seminars as long as he was physically able to), reciprocal awareness and dialogue between cultures.
The debates between different perspectives of human culture, ranging from Confucianism to Islam, from Buddhism to secularism in modern liberal democracies, were the topics of the seminars in the ‘90s. What emerged was a book based on conversations Pope John Paul II held with his two Polish “friends”, Father Josef Tischner and the philosopher Michalski. I place “friends” in quotes because Krzysztof, in spite of evidence of their many meetings and a degree of complicity between co-nationals, always carefully maintained a certain distance. The person who did not hesitate to emphasize it was Gadamer, who, in the final years of his life had drawn from his experience at Castelgandolfo further impulse in attributing great importance to interreligious dialogue.
John Paul II’s last book, Memory and Identity (published in Italy by Rizzoli), was dedicated to reflecting on philosophy, theology and history, centered on the 20th century, National-Socialism, Communism and democracy. It would only be published some years later, in 2003, because the Pope preferred its publication to be postponed for as long as possible after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Michalski’s life, following his graduation in Warsaw, his studies and scientific work in Germany, England and later Vienna, followed a path that coincided with Eastern Europe’s liberation from Communism and accompanied the emergence of leaders such as Havel and Michnik, who guided their countries into the European Union. In the years of the debate concerning the enlargement of the European Union, he guided the reflection group on Europe’s spiritual and cultural dimension and produced research on the “Condition of European Solidarity” and “Religion in Europe.” Some of these papers were published by Reset in the book Europa laica e puzzle religioso (2005, Libri di Reset-Marsilio, edited by K. Michalski and Nina zu Fürstenberg).
Over the years, Krzysztof published significant philosophical works on Husserl, Heidegger and Nietzsche, (written in English, “The Flame of Eternity”, Princeton 2011) and dedicated much energy to the institute in Vienna, consolidating the centre’s character in political and philosophical reflection dedicated to European institutions, to problems of democracy, religious-political relations and cultural pluralism. In 2004 he was awarded the Theodor Heuss Award in Germany, with a commendation by Kurt Biedenkopf. Previous recipients of this award included Ralf Dahrendorf, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Günter Grass, Jürgen Habermas, Vaclav Havel, Helmut Schmidt, and Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker. Michalski played a leading role in the East-West dialogue in its broadest sense. Reset-Dialogues on Civilizations, created in 2004, with objectives shared with Michalski, has lost a great friend, an authoritative member and a precious advisor in our scientific committee.
Translated by Francesca Simmons